The Florida Citrus Tower is a structure in

Clermont, Florida Clermont is the most populous city in Lake County, Florida, Lake County, within the U.S. state of Florida. The population was 43,021 in 2020. It is about west of Orlando, Florida, Orlando and southeast of Leesburg, Florida, Leesburg. The cit ...

. Built in 1956 to allow visitors to observe the miles of surrounding

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

groves, it was once among the most famous landmarks of the Orlando area.

History

The tower was conceived by A.W. Thacker and Jack Toole "to showcase the thriving citrus industry," ''Orlando Weekly'' wrote in 2005. Construction began in 1955, funded by a public sale of stock in the project. The project consumed of concrete and of reinforcing steel. The tower opened on July 14, 1956, with representatives from Silver Springs and

Cypress Gardens Cypress Gardens was a botanical garden and theme park near Winter Haven, Florida that operated from 1936 to 2009. As of 2011, the botanical garden portion had been preserved inside the newly formed Legoland Florida. History Billed as Florida' ...

in attendance. During the first several years of operation, the tower drew up to 500,000 visitors a year, thanks to its location on

US 27 U.S. Route 27 or U.S. Highway 27 (US 27) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway in the Southern and Midwestern U.S. The southern terminus is at US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 (I ...

between Cypress Gardens and Silver Springs. However, in 1964

Florida's Turnpike Florida's Turnpike, designated as unsigned highway, unsigned State Road 91 (SR 91), is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access toll road in the U.S. state of Florida, maintained by Florida's Turnpike Enterprise (FTE). Spanning approximate ...

was extended north, providing a faster route south through

Central Florida Central Florida is a Regions of the United States#Florida, region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, in ...

. Since then, the tower has been sold several times. In the 1980s, three harsh freezes (1983,

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, and 1989) killed most of the citrus groves in Lake County; this caused a decrease in visitation to the tower. In 1988, a tram was built to offer visitors tours of various citrus crops. The tower was purchased in 1995 by Greg Homan, who had it painted white and turquoise. In April 2015, the Citrus Tower was repainted in its original color scheme, with orange and white stripes. In 2022, the Homan family sold the tower to Simchat Torah Beit Midrash (STBM) for $3.3 million. It reopened in May 2023 after a renovation that aimed to "bring it back to what it was years and years ago". The Jewish influence in the region was partly driven by the fruitful development of Israeli agtech companies in Florida.

Attraction

The Citrus Tower includes a coin drop where visitors can hear their coin drop to the bottom. At the lobby is ROOM: Valencia: a banquet facility, gift shop, and museum of the tower's history. Near the tower is the Presidents Hall of Fame, with wax tributes to the Presidents of the United States and a model of the interior of the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

Gallery

File:"Greetings from Citrus Tower" (11403313626).jpg, "Greetings from Citrus Tower" postcard from circa 1960 File:Citrus Tower Clermont04.jpg, The Citrus Tower in 2007 File:Citrus Tower Clermont elevator01.jpg, The mostly unmodernized elevator of the Citrus Tower (now modernized) File:Citrus Tower.JPG, The Citrus Tower in 2015

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.citrustower.com
Citrus Tower Photo Gallery

Presidents Hall of Fame
Towers in Florida Observation towers in the United States Towers completed in 1956 Buildings and structures in Lake County, Florida 1956 establishments in Florida Clermont, Florida Citrus industry in Florida

History

Attraction

Gallery

See also

References

External links